A sloping lawn lined with linden trees focuses attention on a niche carved in granite at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park. It holds a bronze bust of the U.S. president who led the nation through the Great Depression and World War II. The 1933 sculpture is by Jo Davidson.

The four-acre Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park finally completes a memorial to the 32nd U.S. president — almost four decades after architect Louis Kahn finished the designs.

The park brings fantastic life to the long-neglected site at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, the narrow stretch of land in the East River that once housed lunatics and chronic- disease sufferers before luring others to chunky gray highrises with spectacular views.